The cholesterol/phospholipid ratio (C/PL) of the red blood cell membrane, plasma lipids and erythrocyte aggregability were evaluated in 20 children with familial hypercholesterolemia (age: 10.4
{}\pm{}
4.6 years) but without detectable vascular injury. The results indicate that hypercholesterolemic children have a higher erythrocyte membrane C/PL ratio than the control group (0.81
{}\pm{}
0.23 vs. 0.65
{}\pm{}
0.08,
p<0.01
). This membrane lipid alteration correlates inversely with the plasma concentration of HDL‐cholesterol (
r=-0.558
,
p<0.010
). The patients also showed greater erythrocyte aggregability than the control group (8.21
{}\pm{}
1.11 vs. 6.25
{}\pm{}
1.24,
p<0.001
), but this does not seem to correlate with the changes observed in the lipid composition of the cell membrane. These results suggest that from childhood, people with familial hyper‐cholesterolemia show alterations in the lipid composition of the red blood cell membrane that are related to the changes observed in plasma lipids and appear prior to atherosclerotic vascular symptoms.
